New Zealand thrill home fans at SailGP in Christchurch as they take day one lead ahead of Canada and Great Britain with championship leaders Australia lagging behind
- New Zealand led the Saturday standings with 28 points after strong showing
- They delighted their home fans with a dominant win in second of three races
- Canada, Great Britain and France look set to fight it out for the podium places
New Zealand delighted their home fans with one race victory and two second-placed finishes as they piled the pressure on SailGP championship leaders Australia on home waters.
The 3,000 Kiwi fans on the shore in Lyttelton cheered as Peter Burling guided his boat to a dominant win in the second of Saturday’s trio of races.
That came after New Zealand surged through the field to finish behind France in race one and they showed impressive consistency to come second behind Canada in race three.
Great Britain remained in the hunt for a podium finish with two third-place finishes and a fourth but it was an afternoon of disappointment for Australia.
Tom Slingsby’s championship leaders were edged out by Great Britain in race one and finished a distant second to the rival Kiwi boat after a tactical error executing a turn early on.
New Zealand top the standings after the first day of the SailGP regatta in Christchurch
Ben Ainslie and his crew kept Great Britain in contention for podium places after day one
And the Aussies were not even in the hunt in race three as they had to make do with fifth overall entering Sunday’s two fleet races, with only the top three making the finale.
New Zealand led the Saturday standings with 28 points, with Canada on 24 and Great Britain on 23.
France, who made it four race victories in a row following their impressive showing in Sydney last time out, ended up fourth on 21 points after their hot streak very much burned out.
The action in Christchurch was delayed by 40 minutes because dolphins were spotted on the course but despite a lot of hanging around, the French boat skippered by Quentin Delapierre made a blistering start.
They had won all three races on day one in Sydney before day two was cancelled because of storm-force winds and they made it four-in-a-row by leading for the majority of the race.
It was an underwhelming day from championship leaders Australia as they ended up fifth
New Zealand were sixth at one point but stormed back to take second place with Britain’s Ben Ainslie and his crew performing solidly to hold off Australia and clinch third.
The second race was New Zealand’s for the taking as soon as Australia slipped up executing a turn, a mistake that drew a huge cheer from the partisan local crowd.
Britain recovered from early difficulty which saw them briefly bring up the rear of the field to finish fourth behind Canada.
That Canadian promise was confirmed in race three as skipper Phil Robertson, himself a Kiwi, showed a mastery of the gusty conditions to clinch a win that propelled them up the standings.
Standings after day one: 1. New Zealand (28pts); 2. Canada (24pts); 3. Great Britain (23pts); 4. France (21pts); 5. Australia (18pts); 6. United States (16pts); 7. Switzerland (14pts); 8. Denmark (10pts); 9. Spain (8pts).